Michael Lane was once a member of the Gotham City Police Department, and was made part of a program intended to create the ultimate crime fighter. However, it turned him into an insane criminal.

His sprees were brought to an end when he was defeated by Batman, and Michael confessed his sins to a priest of the Order of Purity, a secret religious group. They recruited Michael to fight evil as their crusader Azrael, and bestowed him with the Suit of Sorrows and the Sword of Sin, two mystical artifacts belonging to the order.

If Azrael does not keep his soul pure, the Suit of Sorrows will destroy him.

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When Bruce Wayne was imprisoned in Arkham City, Azrael watched as Wayne entered the prison confines. Over the course of the night, Azrael had multiple conversations with Batman, stating that he had been watching Batman for some time. Each time Azrael spoke with Batman, he left behind a sigil. When Batman combined all the sigils and aligned them with landmarks within Arkham City, he deduced the final meeting place to be the church.[1]

When Batman arrived at the church, Azrael introduced himself, stating his name and his ties to the Order of St Dumas. He revealed a prophecy, foretelling the end of days and the end of Batman.[1]

After Scarecrow's plan to evacuate Gotham City, Azrael took to the rooftops and lit burning bat symbols to signal Batman. After reminding Batman of his previous prophecy coming to fruition, he revealed another: that Batman would not survive that night and Azrael would take his place. To prove his worth, Batman set up multiple augmented reality training sessions. Each session was recorded by Alfred Pennyworth and put through the Batcomputer to run physiological tests.[2]

Amidst one of the training sessions, Alfred noticed an irregularity in Azrael's brain; a microprocessor had been implanted and attached to his temporal lobe. Not only could Azrael study Batman's moves and copy them almost flawlessly, but some of his memories had been altered by the Order. When Batman inspected Azrael's altered memories, he found the true memory hidden within; the Order had ordered Batman's death by Azrael's hands. While Batman was busy inspecting Azrael's memories, Azrael had infiltrated the clock tower. After trying to convince Batman that what he was doing was right, Azrael took up his Sword of Sin and was prepared to kill Batman. Deciding not to slay Batman, Azrael broke the sword and swore to visit the Order and have them answer for what they had done.[2]